It has been recommended that policy makers communicate an appropriate level of worry and negative affect about climate change to promote public support (Goldberg et. al, 2020).

By continuing to educate people on the negative impacts of climate change, we are overlooking a well-established behavioral process in the field of associative learning. 

The process is called the Ostrich Effect.

This is the well documented idea that people stop attending to information (even though it may be relevant) because the stimuli are consistently too aversive. Think of an ostrich putting their head in the sand to remain safe, or a person avoiding looking at a bill. 

Educating the population on aversive consequences of climate change may be informational, but it doesn’t guide people toward solutions.  In fact, it may cause people to feel helpless or overwhelmed.  In the worst-case scenario, too much aversive information may cause environmentally conscious people NOT to act on climate change.

I certainly know many people who feel this way.  They are deeply concerned about the planet, but tend to throw their hands up in the air because they don’t know what to do.   It’s better to look away because the problem is simply too big.  I’ve certainly gone through this process myself.  Check out our previous blogs on Climate Anxiety (Stay Focused on Making Change, 4/7/21) and Positive Self Talk (You Can Do This! 4/19/21) for more on how to overcome this common feeling.  

The good news is that more and more people are deeply invested in taking care of our planet.  Support for climate change action is increasing (Tyson & Kennedy, 2020), and the support will continue to increase as we start contacting aversive consequences to the changing climate.

Massive change can be made by shifting our efforts away from awareness, and toward high impact solutions.  That is, interventions that will produce the greatest change in greenhouse gas emissions.  Some common examples of high-impact solutions include; reducing food waste, reducing consumption of goods, plant rich diets, anti-idling campaigns, forest conservation, regularly calling elected official, planting trees, and donating money to environmental or indigenous communities.  Check out Drawdown.org for a prioritized list of solutions developed by leading climate scientists.

There still is so much hope, but we need to commit to action.  Commit to being part of the solution by implementing interventions in your home, place of work, or community. The world is ready for that change.

References

Goldberg, M. H., Gustafson, A., Ballew M. T., Rosenthal S. A., & Leiserowitz, A. (2020). Identifying the most important predictors of support for climate policy in the United States. Behavioural Public Policy, 1-23. doi:10.1017/bpp.2020.39

Hawken, Paul. (Ed). 2017. Drawdown. Penguin.

Tyson, E., & Kennedy, B. (2020, June 23). Two-thirds of Americans think governments should do more on climate. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/06/23/two-thirds-of-americans-think-government-should-do-more-on-climate/